Swedish~ Stereo~

Yesterday main favorite of Melodifestivalen-2013 Ulrik Munther has qualified to the final expectedly becoming one of the top selling MF artists today. Anyway the final turns difficult for Ulrik and sharing audience will be quite unexpected bu Ulrik has two weeks to promote his song and he starts today premiering video that you can see below and also you can listen to the new track from his upcoming album "Rooftop" - "Glad I Found You".

Ulrik Munther has gathered some serious forces on his upcoming album "Rooftop" which is going to be released on March 6th - Erik Hassle, Christian Waltz and Andreas Mattsson helped him with songs and we can already get a sneak peek of one track - "Requiem".
Just like in "San Francisco Says Hello" you definitely feel the growth of Ulrik's sound, it's still his special American radio-pop direction but more dramatic and epic (darker version of "Fool"?).
This Saturday Ulrik performs at Melodifestivalen stage with the song "Tell the world I’m here" and in a current moment along with Yohio he's the biggest favorite of the competition. Already tomorrow we'll be able to check the snippet of his rehearsal and see if Ulrik's gonna meet all expectations.

Today Ulrik Munther premieres video for his newest single "San Francisco Says Hello" (just realizing how many videos we got last year before his debut album release and how long ago we had the last one). The video has turned intentionally quite 70s, very dark and atmospheric. Check it below!

Just a few months before making new Melodifestivalen attempt Ulrik Munther presents new single in Sweden - "San Francisco Says Hello" that he has written together with Martin Ekman.
"San Francisco Says Hello" is a thoughtful pop-rok song with a nice atmosphere showing Ulrik's music growth since release of his debut album. This is more mature Ulrik and he's definitely gonna be tougher schlager-rival this Spring.

On the way to Japanese audience Ulrik Munther releases a nice Christmas pack made of CD including English cover of "Tänd Ett Ljus" - "Shine A Light" (which was originally released by the band Triad in 80s and has become a classic Christmas song in Sweden) and remixes of his previous singles which you can prelisten here with DVD containing nice documentary and other goodies. Ulrik's version of "Tänd Ett Ljus" has become very warm, acoustic and sing-along with a lot of artist's own personality in it and you can already listen to it below.
I should remind you that Ulrik participates in Melodifestivalen this winter. He's going to perform the song "Tell The World I'm Here" co-written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström and he's already odds favorite so who knows? Maybe it's Ulrik who will be representing Sweden at Eurovision next year.

New Swedish electropop-project Vinsten has got a very good start when SVT has used band's debut single "The Luckiest Girl" as soundtrack to a new series Portkod 1321.
Melancholic electro-song growing from minimalistic dark intro to a pulsating infectious tune of the chorus still with an essential drop of drama was noticed by audience and keeps flowing well on iTunes. Ulrik Munther has recently made a cover of the song and you can check it along with original version below.

Time for new heroes of Rockbjörnen awards have come. Aftonbladet's readers were nominating candidates and now you can vote for the one of top entries here.
Loreen logically have got three nominations (Best female, Best song and Best concert), Eric is still hotter than fire with Best male, Best song and Best concert. Dead By April, Panetoz, Moa Lignell, Alina Devercerski, Sabaton and Takida were included in two nominations. Really great to see Melodifestivalen finalists Molly Sandén and Ulrik Munther in Best male and Best female.
The concert will take a place on August 29th in Gröna Lund and you'll be able to watch it on Aftonbladet site.

Birthday concert of princess Victoria has gathered a stunning line-up this year consisting mostly of young artists - Loreen, Danny, Agnes and Ulrik Munther.
Danny and Loreen performed both of their Melodifestivalen songs.
Loreen has made an alternative live-version of "My Heart Is Refusing Me" with drums (she uses them quite often lately) and "Euphoria" in a style of her performance at Allsång På Skansen.
Danny was making "In The Club" in a live-band version and has prepared a ballad-verion of "Amazing" with violins and unexpected gospel-choir that he has released this Spring on EP with mixes.
Ulrik sang "Soldiers" with "Sticks and Stones" still not needing a lot of hapenning around to make the performance very alive and to give a lot on the stage.
Agnes performed "One Last Time" and "Release Me", today she had...hmmm...pretty experimental eye makeup and the first long dress (the second disco-dress was ok) but was wonderful vocally, she has definitely got artistical level-up lately.
You can watch the whole concert here and separate performances of Loreen below. If we'll get some other clips on youtube or SVTPlay soon, I'll add them too.

Two months ago we were writing about Stormby's Remix of "Euphoria", the first proper remix coming out for this track so fast - even sooner than official pack. Now Stormby has come up with another great mix for another Melodifestivalen entry of this year - Ulrik Munther's "Soldiers", which hasn't also got any official mixes yet (update: thanks to Being Blogged I've found out that actually official mix was released two days ago but I like Stormby's one much more), so we hope Ulrik's label will think about making this one official.
Stormby's remix has become big, poppy and sounds exactly like MF classic mix should sound (I mean you can go dubstep, you can make acoustic versions but schlager-season would be just wrong without such properly schlageristic mixes like this), it also contains an utterly cool military drum intro. You can check whole new Stormby's Swe Pop compilation Ulrik's mix was included in, one hour of the best fresh Swedish dance-pop you absolutely will like.

Some bad news for those who have got to watch daily live performances in TV4's Nyhetsmorgon, management has decided to get rid off them during working days and invite artists only at weekends. Still we have loads of TV-shows to get some music goodies from.
For example Sanna Nielsen has become a guest of Bingolotto performing very nice cover of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" with a string orchestra behind. Ulrik Munther was another guest singing his MF-entry "Soldiers".

Ulrik Munther has become another Melodifestivalen finalist to present his song "Soldiers" in acoustic version, really nice black and blue record which is more music video than some ordinary fast live recording. Efforts of the team behind this guy deserve respect. And I wish the best of luck to Ulrik on Saturday.

Right after the fourth semifinal of Melodifestivalen Ulrik Munther has re-released his debut album including the track "Soldiers" he participates with and completely new song "Fool".
It's a perfect summer pop-rock follow-up of "Soldiers" becoming natural progression of Ulrik's music he has presented on the album but warmer and happier with still nice post-chorus sing-along "o-o-o" parts.
"Soldiers" is currently in Top-10 on iTunes and Ulrik is definitely in the race for the highest places of MF-final.

Vdeo snippets from rehearsals of the second semifinal are out and here's what we get.
Ulrik Munther has presented new radio-hit sounding in my ears like JoJo going pop-rock. I don't think it's going to get MF-winner buzz but it's very well done and should be adored by fans on summer pop-fests.
Top Cats are Playtones without Kempe (read as without extra-something), rockabilly-stuff, not "The King" level in my ears.
Sonja Aldén comes back with a new Bobby Ljunggren schlager-ballad and Bassflow production, it's nice and should sound touching with its lyrics about passed away close person but after all flops of schlager-ballads can it have really huge success on MF?
I didn't imagine Andreas Lundstedt can surprise me singing dance-music I never heard from him but he has managed, it's a sweet melodic electro-dance pop with schlager-touch, probably what Shirley should sing in 2012 but it's lacking Shirley's drive unfortunately.
Timoteij have beautifully developed tune with energetic folk-schlager sound, I wish loads of luck to girls but I've got a feeling it won't be as big fans favorite as "Kom" was.
Nice to see Tony Nilsson persenting something fresh for David Lindgren, modern dance-song that would be a good album track for Darin or Ola but is it going to work on MF?
Mimi Oh has presented very nice electropop mix of what Linda Sundblad and Le Kid were about last year, you will hardly find from her 80s-vibes here but it's catchy, stylish and I really like production, her best single so far.
I was initially sceptic to Di Leva, I rarely put his stuff in my player but I think his arena-oriented positive pop will work good on MF. And here I've changed my mind right like I did when I've heard Thorsten Flick.

Music video made for bilingual collaboration of Caroline Costa and Ulrik Munther "Je t'ai menti" (which is actually half-French cover of Ulrik's "Kill For Lies" I told about before) is finally premiered and it's a sweet and simple love story without over-tragic episodes which is natural and good for this small teen love story. And as I said before I really like how Caroline sounds in this track.
Ulrik currently prepares for Melodifestivalen-2012, he will perform song "Soldiers" in 2nd semifinal and he's one of the biggest bookies favorites to win whole contest.

You probably have already managed to read about official line-up of Melodifestivalen-2012 on some ESC or Swedish music related sites. I wasn't in a hurry as all of these artists but one were quessed before and you could read about them here. Anna Järvinen has refused to participate in the last moment so she was replaced by David Lindgren. Danny has also changed his song for more proper for MF right before official announcement.
I've collected some descriptions of tracks from SVT, QX, Schlagerprofilerna, Scandipop and Schlagerzoot so you could realize in common what should we expect from MF this time.
Pictures are taken from expressen.se and svd.se.

Semifinal 1: Växjö

Loreen "Euphoria"
(Thomas G:son, Peter Boström)
- dynamic, mystic and dramatic song with "Cry Me A River"-feeling and ambient-sound crawling under your skin.


The Moniker "I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just the Beginning)"
(Daniel Karlsson (The Moniker))
- track having nothing common with "Oh My God", it's more green than golden, not attached to any genre, more rhythmic and oriental.


Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern "Jag reser mig igen"
(Thomas G:son, Ted Ström)
- heavy melodic track in classic schlager-tradition with at the same time personal and common lyrics.


Dead by April "Mystery"
(Pontus Hjelm)
- epic (not a ballad) pop-metall in-your-face track with a strong chorus not written especially for MF sounding in a vein of the latest band's album, the hardest MF entry ever.


Abalone Dots "På väg"
(Rebecka Hjukström, Sophia Hogman, Louise Holmer, Viktor Källgren)
- melancholic love ballad with banjo in a minor and nyckelharpa typical for Abalone Dots style.


Marie Serneholt "Salt & Pepper"
(Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson, Figge Boström)
- swinging and spicy uptempo-track.


Sean Banan "Sean Den Förste Banan"
(Sean Simadi (Sean Banan), Joakim Larsson, Hans Blomberg, Mårten Andersson)
- typical Sean Banan's entertaining track without any calm moment and with a message that everybody can be a king in their own ways.


Afro-Dite "The Boy Can Dance"
(Figge Boström, Catrine Loqvist, Johan Lindman)
- 70s inspired happy disco track with a modern sound.


Semifinal 2: Göteborg

Andreas Lundstedt "Aldrig Aldrig"
(Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus, Randy Goodrum)
- melancholic uptempo song about breaking up, not a disco but this is the song you can dance and cry listening to.


Top Cats "Baby Doll"
(Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)
- positive energetic rock'n'roll track in a full tempo.


Mimi Oh "Det går för långsamt"
(Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Niclas Lundin)
- slightly 80s inspired honest and straight bombastic pop-track with catchy choruses and modern sound.


Thomas Di Leva "Ge aldrig upp"
(Thomas Di Leva)
- uplifting energetic song with a certain message.


Sonja Aldén "I din himmel"
(Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren, Peter Boström)
- recognizable follow-up of "För att du finns", calm but strong and pulsating.


David Lindgren "Shout It Out"
(Fernando Fuentes, Tony Nilsson)
- positive dance-track requiring big dance-performance.


Ulrik Munther "Soldiers"
(Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson)
- fresh pop-rock song about relationships and forgiveness with millitary feeling not going too far from Ulrik's debut album sound and closer to his "The Box".



Timoteij "Stormande hav"
(Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht, Jens Engelbrecht)
- energetic pop-folk uptempo schlager with Irish influences and heavier than their previous stuff though in a same vein.


Semifinal 3: Leksand

Mattias Andréasson "Förlåt mig"
(Mattias Andréasson)
- fresh Swedish pop with American influences (earlier described as r'n'b in Swedish sounding in Oskar Linnros' style).



Maria BenHajji "I mina drömmar"
(Nanna Sveinsdóttir, Thomas Cars)
- webjoker - classic schlager-ballad from "För att du finns" and "Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus" family.


Love Generation "Just A Little Bit"
(Nadir Khayat (RedOne), John Mamann, Jean-Claude Sindres, Teddy Sky, Yohanne Simon, Bilal "The Chef" Hajji)
- explosive pop-track with attitude, power and happiness.



Andreas Johnson "Lovelight"
(Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint)
- Faces go partying with T Rex, Blur and Robbie Williams, positive track with gospel-touch closer to a style of Andreas' first MF-entries "Sing For Me", "A Little Bit Of Love".


Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li "Mirakel"
(Fredrik Andersson, Björn Ranelid)
- clubby track with happy chorus and poetic lyrics.


Carolina Wallin Pérez "Sanningen"
(Michael Clauss, Martin Bjelke, Carolina Wallin Pérez, F Dread)
- drum cavalcade melancholic synth-pop crossing borders and flirting with rock.


Molly Sandén "Why Am I Crying"
(Molly Sandén, Aleena Gibson, Windy Wagner)
- modern pop-ballad with honest lyrics about broken heart that many are gonna take as personal.


Youngblood "Youngblood"
(Fredrik Kempe, David Krüger)
- uptempo feelgood sing-a-long track with modern sound and recognizable Fredrik Kempe's style.


Semifinal 4: Malmö

OPA "Allting blir bra igen"
(Michael Sideridis)
- swinging, catchy, Greek folk-pop.


Danny Saucedo "Amazing"
(Danny Saucedo, Peter Boström, Figge Boström)
- uptempo track from "In The Club" team, more positive and arena-oriented.


Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren "Don't Let Me Down"
(Lasse Holm, Lars "Dille" Diedricson)
- mature euroschlager with modern sound and adrenaline rush.


Hanna Lindblad "Goosebumps"
(Hanna Lindblad, Linda Sundblad, Tony Nilsson)
- 80s inspired song with loads of energy and love.


Axel Algmark "Kyss mig"
(Axel Algmark, Mattias Frändå, Jonathan Magnussen)
- happy pill with party feeling.



Dynazty "Land Of Broken Dreams"
(Thomas G:son, Thomas "Plec" Johansson)
- 90s hardrock song hitting you like a punch.


Charlotte Perrelli "The Girl"
(Fredrik Kempe, Alexander Johnsson)
- fresh clubby uptempo sing-along track with electro-sound and schlager-glitter.


Lisa Miskovsky "Why Start A Fire"
(Lisa Miskovsky, Aleksander With, Bernt Rune Stray, Berent Philip Moe)
- forest minstrel in love with Prince and Kate Bush.

Ulrik Munther goes international!
Recently young Swedish pop-wonder has recorded track "Kill For Lies" from his debut album with another young French singer Caroline Costa so new version has included partly left original version of Ulrik singing in English and the second is performed by Caroline in French, this language and Caroline's voice have fitted the song really well and soon we're gonna get a video for this collaboration.
Right now you can check the teaser of video and listen to the full version of the song here on Caroline's site, if you'll retweet it in status clicking blue block above screen.

Taking part in shooting for charity calendars has become an amazing tradition among Swedish musicians.
Last year I told you about Caroline Roosmark's calendar. If you haven't heard about it - it's made for charity collecting some biggest Swedish celebritites who participate for free. This year all income will be aimed to help children living in families with the only one parent and low budget. We've got not so many pop-artists - it was only Sanna Nielsen, Ulrik Munther and Marie Fredriksson this year but their images have become as impressive as we use to see in Caroline's works. You can check calendar and order it here.
Alsoe you can find another great calendar with loads of well-known faces of pop-music (Eric Saade, Danny, Loreen, Sara Varga, The Moniker, Nicke Borg, Martin Rolinski, Adam Tensta, Lisa Miskovsky) helping two organizations - Friends (against bullying in schools) and Naturskyddsföreningen (ecology organisation) here. And don't miss some videos of making it.